The Land That Shouldn't Be
by Cloud-Link-VII
Summary: (Based on "Haven" by b100b100d as well as Haibane Renmei) Sora's life is changed forever when he tests positive for a new, vicious disease. Sora is thrown into "The Land That Shouldn't Be" to live out what little life he has left.
1. Chapter 1

Sora was a normal child. Nothing out of the ordinary. That was, until now.

After testing positive for this new disease, he was taken out of his normal life and thrown into the back of a ambulance... well at this point it was more like a quarantine vehicle.

His island home was fading into the distance. This whole situation was quite scary for him... or for anyone. Sora couldn't decide whether to panic or break down. His expression was blank.

The ambulance was as white as a newly painted room and the benches were hard as rocks, but at least there were windows and a back door. Across from him were 2 assistants in bulky, white suits (the typical ones, as you would see in a movie), one as near to the door as he could get, the other next to a speaker that was connected to the driver; both had cattle prods. Along with the white suits and prods, the suits were accompanied by a creepy gas mask... not the stand ones issued out to people, but ones akin to the Black Plague.

The worst part about this trip was that Sora was alone. Sure, he had those 2 assistants, but they weren't going to talk to him... if he tried to talk to them, he most likely be prodded. He could have been put on a quarantine train, or someone else that he knew could have been tested positive. No, he was utterly alone.

Not to mention, being alone would mean Sora would be completely bored.

Unfortunately, all this time made Sora think of what will become of him. It made him more nervous than ever. But, it made him think. About a month ago... or a few months... life on the island is a bit lonely without him... a friend of his tested positive. He might be able to see him again!... y'know, assuming he HASN'T been killed.

The twilight had now faded into moonlight, the creamy orange faded into the blueish-black desert sky. Unfortunately, Sora couldn't tell how long he had to endure the ride... not like it mattered. This would be heaven compared to the life he would have to face. And besides, he didn't have a watch. Although it had seemed like days, his guess was around 5-8 hours.

The ambulance stopped. It began to sink in. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew. Sora was on the outskirts of The Land That Shouldn't Be. He was going in and he was never going back home.


	2. Chapter 2

The back door was unlocked and Sora was thrown out of the truck.

He faced the people that threw him out of the truck pleading for them to take him back. "Please! There must be some mistake!" They shunned him. They had their hands on his shoulders, pushing him more and more into an area that looked like a huge pit.

Attempting to dig his over-sized shoes in the ground, the guards opened the gates and threw him in an area of dry, desert land before the pit. Some men took him to the edge of the pit, which he now saw had a huge, swirling vortex.

Panicking and struggling, he had tears in his eyes: "Please! Please let me go! I'm only 15, I can't do this!" Staring at the vortex more and more, he broke down he yelled at the guards: "Is this what happens to the diseased? !What happened to the city?! Aren't we guaranteed some time to live out what little life we have left?!"

"You'll just have to find out." The guards pushed him into the vortex and walked back to the gate.

* * *

Sora fell out of the portal and onto his face. "Ow..."

He looked up and gazed at the city. In it's zenith, Sora assumed that the city was a place where business thrived. It had housed thousands, maybe even millions of people. Then he saw the floating Castle. "And it probably housed some great minds too." All of this assumption was before the disease struck, of course. But it's not like he knew... or any common person knew, for that matter.

Now, it was a shell of what it used to (potentially) be. The skyline was dark... it looked like it'd never been morning! The buildings were huge, but worn. Some had chunks that were missing, but more were just worn. There were lights... dare I say neon lights, but in alleys, such as the alley where Sora was, it was mostly dark, save for perhaps 1 or 2 flickering lights.

And the city... it reeked of death, BO, and some other things that will just be left unmentioned. It was stated in pamphlets, school, and whatever else talked about the disease, that it shortened your lifespans greatly... but after what he just smelled, his theory of people at least picking up the corpses was debunked.

Deciding that standing out in the open in an alley was probably bad, he started to walk... albeit aimlessly. He even walk 5 feet before he noticed something was following him. Struck with fear, Sora stood there for a moment and saw a silhouette... but you couldn't make out what it was. "He-hello?" Sora stuttered. "Anyone there?" It got closer and closer until it grabbed Sora's arm. He yelped and made a run for it. He got out of the small alley and made it into a more open area... but he dare not look back. Hearing the creature screech, he ran. Unfortunately, our hero ran into another alley.

The creature opened it's mouth and showed off it's terrifying fangs and glowing yellow eyes. Stepping closer and closer to Sora, he fell to the ground and prepared for the end. Just as the creature was about to destroy Sora, he heard a slashing sound. "Huh-" His savior clamped his mouth and took him to the nearest building.

* * *

The building was dark and dusty... at least outside you have the flickering lights to look forward to! His savior, who apparently had a hood, had laid Sora on the floor. His savior, obviously a bit worn from saving Sora, said to Sora in an angered whisper: "What the hell were you doing!"

Sora sat up. "Wait... is that-?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Wait... Riku.. Is that you?"

"...Sora?"

"Riku!" They embraced, in a rather awkward way because of how dark it was. "This is because it's good to see you again." Then Riku slapped Sora. "Ow! What was THAT for?!" "And that is for not having common sense."

"Sora, if anyone comes near you in a giant city full of diseased people, especially if they're menacing, you DON'T say: 'Hello' or scream, you run as fast as you can from that bastard!"

With all the excitement and slapping going on, 'Yeah' was the only thing Sora could think of saying.

"Friend or not, if you're gonna survive, we're gonna need to teach you some survival skills."

"Okay... Wait, 'we'?"

"Let's just get you out of here. I'll take you to the safer side of town..."

* * *

Lucky for them, it was just around the corner.

"The good news is, you have a place to stay. The bad news is, it's kinda out in the open."

"Hey, Riku?"

"Hm?"

"What's that building called?"

"Memory's Skyscraper. As you can well imagine, it was a popular spot... and still is. That's why it sucks to be that corner building right before it... Y'know, we'll explain this whole thing later... let's just go inside."

"...Again with the 'we'.."

Although it was dark, Sora could make out that the building was a bookstore.

"Down you go."

"Where? There's no doors."

"Oh.. right, hold on."

Riku pushed aside one of the shelves and revealed a small, spiral staircase.

"You know, you could jump without getting hurt..."

"Yeah but..."

"In you go!" Riku said as he pushed Sora.

"Jeez, it's really annoying getting pushed around all day!"

"Yeah, well get used to it!"

It was a voice strange to Sora.

"Lights, on." With the snap of a finger, the lights turned on and revealed what was a cafe/reading area. In it, there was some greenery. But what Sora was most fixated on was the person.

The person had blonde hair and cyan eyes. They wore a black zipped up turtleneck with no sleeves and were slightly torn around the stomach. Underneath the torn part of the was armor. On their right arm was a shoulder pad that looked like a continuation of the armor; there was also a sleeve that cover their arm. On their left hand was a glove not unlike Sora's, except theirs was black and slightly longer. Out of the shoulder pad were straps that connected to a half skirt. They were wearing black 3/4 pants were satchels and a concealed knife. The shoes combat boots. And lastly, they had a pair of wings.

"Ohhh... that's what you meant by 'we'."

Offended, the person punched Sora in the gut.

"What, so it's bad that I'm a tomboy that wants to survive?"

"You're a girl?" Sora was punched again.

"Is this that 'friend' that you spoke so highly of, Riku?"

"Yeah.. I'm afraid so."

"So... how new is he?"

"Uh... I never asked, actually... But he probably just arrived."

"If I won't get hurt for asking, what's with the wings?"

"You ain't seen 'em before?"

"No... we were told wings were near the end... then they were dismissed as rumors..."

"God... They are making us look worse and worse."

"So about the wings?"

"Yeah, they're the first... Will probably get them within a week or so."

"Oh wow... that's not going to be fun to look forward to ..."

"Here, Riku, take off the cloak and stay awhile." He got the message and removed the cloak, revealing his 2, small wings.

"Because he's only been here for about a month and a half, his are fairly small." Taken aback by the fact that his best friend had grew wings, Sora just kinda stared at them, wondering what it will be like when his grow.

"We should probably just start showing him around. Time is a precious thing to waste."


	4. Chapter 4

About to go upstairs, Riku went over to Sora.

"Hey Sora, you hungry?"

"I'm more tired than hungry."

"I only ask since you've been in a truck all day."

"I'm always up for a meal, so if you're hungry, I'll eat."

So Riku got up to and went into the 'Kitchen' (a.k.a: the cafe) and started up the stove. Sora just sat next to a half-asleep... person he met, he never really learned her name. He just decided to contemplate on the situation he was now in. Here he was, last night in his own home; next minute he's shipped off to a city full of who knows what, living with his best friend and some chick that he didn't even know the name of, in a bookstore, unsure of himself. Sora sighed.

"Never see you thinking so hard, Sora. Anyways, food's ready."

"What is it?"

"This is actually some cake. It's for special occasions. Obviously you coming is a bit of a festivity." Riku said, bringing the tray to the table.

"Oh wow! Thanks!"

"But you should get used to stuff like ramen."

"Aw, really?"

"Yeah. It's easy... or easier... to get than most things here. I mean, you got to remember the fact that we were dumped in a city without a lot of supplies"

It got to an awkward silence, the only thing you could hear was the slurping of noodles... especially from Sora. After a few minutes the girl started to talk.

"Y'know, it just dawned on me that during all this madness, we never properly introduced. The name's Kurai. And from what I gathered from the conversations, you're Sora, correct?"

"Yep."

It went back to silence until after Riku cleaned up.

"You make quite the maid... Not to mention, you're pretty cute..."

Riku socked Sora so hard that it left a bruise.

"Oww... Okay, I was asking for it... *yawns*"

Kurai, noticing Sora yawning, stepped in.

"Back to our original agenda, I'll show you around quickly so you can go to sleep."

"*yawns* Sounds good."

* * *

Showing Sora the upstairs, it looked like an area for an otaku and geek alike. It was brimming with mangas, display cases, figurines, movies, and even an adult section! But Sora was too tired to notice anything else, if there was anything.

"Okay, sleepyhead. You'll be happy to know that you're trip is almost over. If you can just wait a minute..."

She had to unlock what looked like a backroom. There were a few beds and 2 doors at the end of the small room. Near the door on the right were a pile of clothes as well as a window, looking out at Memory's Skyscraper; the left had a washbasin and a clothesline.

"Take your pick. Also, the door on the left is the bathroom; the door on the right is my room.. Don't go in there. And before you start to complain that 'its small' or 'its not home sweet home', remember that we're in quite a good position compared to most of these people."

"Well, thanks so much... uh... Kurai."

Kurai smiled and left. She didn't think that oaf would remember her name. Sora just took the bed near the bathroom door. A few minutes before he crashed, Sora saw Riku come in and take the bed opposite to him.

"So, what'd you think of your first day?"

"Pretty *yawns* interesting. I'm glad to know that you're alive."

"The same to you."

"Yeah... 'night Riku."

Sora passed out.

* * *

Awhile after both Riku and Sora passed out, Kurai came in, making her way to her room as quietly as possible.

"I just hope these 2 people don't have to suffer in this city the way I do."

Kurai passed out, with a few cuts and scrapes on her arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Sora woke up the next morning- or at least he thought it was the next morning. Time flowed all weird here and Sora was a late sleeper anyways. Deciding that standing there and contemplating it wasn't going to solve much, he got up. Sora noticed that Riku, and probably Kurai, were still asleep.

Sora thought that he should explore for a little bit, seeing as he would probably be spending what little life he has left here. As quietly as possible, Sora closed the backroom door, went down the stairs, and unlocked the door. But before he walked out, he saw the moonlight through the glass that made up the front of the old bookstore.

"Why are they telling me to be secretive if they have a wall made of freaking glass..."

Once he stepped outside, it was very hard to see what was inside the building.

"Okay, now that makes more sense. But that big ol' neon sign on the building still proves my point."

Looking up, he saw the towering Memory's Skyscraper. Then he looked at his building.

"Wow, I wonder why we don't expand anymore..."

His new home reminded him of scaling the trees and forts on his island. A tear came from the corner of his eye.

"Home."

Deciding that it would be best not to remissness, he looked at how tall the building was. About 10 stories or so. He could climb that no prob. Sora jumped and was hanging on a ledge, about 3-4 feet above the ground. Using his strength, he pulled himself up and jumped to a windowsill. From there, he scaled up and up and up and up for a few stories until he made it to the roof and sat down.

"Thank God I have upper-body strength."

"Thank God indeed."

Sora looked up and saw Riku.

"Wha- what are you doing here?! How'd you know I was up here?"

"I didn't. I like to come here. Because this part of the city doesn't usually get sunlight, if at all, it's just nice to just sit here and look at everything in the dark. You're not leaving are you?"

"No. It's not like I have anywhere else to stay either. I mean, living with my best friend and a survivalist tomboy who share the same disease, it doesn't get better... or weirder... than that."

"I beg to differ on the weirdness factor, but yeah... Y'know it's just nice to come up here. everything just seems so small and insignificant. "

Sora and Riku just sat there for a few minutes, looking out at the city. That was until Sora challenged Riku.

"Hey, this building isn't the tallest here... Wanna race to see who can scale the buildings up until the Skyscraper?"

"Well, I haven't exactly had any breakfast..."

Sora looked dumbfounded, then realized he didn't have any earlier.

"Although I'll challenge you to who can jump off the building the most perfectly."

Sora agreed and went first. Faltering a bit, after he landed, he kinda fell over. Riku jumped and had a perfect landing, with a few instances of being off-balanced.

"Hey, no fair! You have wings!"

"It's not really cheating if they're this small!"

* * *

Jokingly bickering about this 'contest' while walking back inside, they saw Kurai having a piece of toast.

"Y'know, if you want to eat, there's still some toast left over."

Rushing over to the toaster to see who would get the bread first, she interjected.

"Sora, I've got some errands to run, why don't you tag along?"

Sora and Riku agreed and the 3 of them had a together breakfast.


	6. Chapter 6

Sora, feeling dirty, sleeping in his old clothes, asked if there was anything else.

"Not today. As I'm sure you know, there is a pile of clothes in the corner. I'll be cleaning the clothes later. Each week, someone switches out on the chores. Obviously, you're free... for now. But next week.. or 2 weeks from now, you'll be doing the chores."

"So, there is stuff lying around?"

"Mostly shirts and pants. Shoes are a bit more annoying... It's a good thing I know Olette..."

"Who?"

"Olette is one of the people you'll be meeting today, so don't think about it."

* * *

The 3 started to leave.

"Okay, you have a choice, Sora. We can either take the train, which is faster but has a better chance of running into conflict, or walk there, which is longer but less chance of conflict."

"Uhhhhhh... The train?"

"Okay, but prepare yourself."

* * *

The 3 got on the train and took off soon afterwards. Sora sat in the middle, with Riku on his left and Kurai on his right. Across from them were some rather tough looking fellows... Not people you should be getting into fights with.

"So, where exactly are we going?" Sora asked Kurai.

"Um.. well, you're gonna need to understand the city as a whole first. Okay, so the area we live in, it's called 'Dark City'. I'm sure you can understand why. It gets precipitation.. more often than you'd think, actually. Not a friendly area to live in. The area we're going to now is called Twilight Town. You'll figure it out when you get there. Again, not a very good place to live, it's slightly more aggressive than where we live, but that's cause it's slightly larger. Last place is Sunset Terrace. Don't go there. It is incredibly dangerous."

"Okay."

Getting fed up with their talking, one of the burly men across from them pulled out an odd weapon... Not just any normal weapon.. it was a key weapon that acted as a blade... a Keyblade!

"Gettin' reeeeeal tired of yer shit, kid."

The gang dashed for them, but Kurai, as well as Riku summoned one of those "keyblades".

Riku had a long "keyblade" with an eye separating the handle from the blade. It had a white wing at the end of the blade and a heart keychain.

Kurai also had a long "keyblade", with a clock, gears, and wings making up the handle. The tip of the blades were long and sharp, with a demon head-thing popping out.

Riku fended Sora from the original burly man, while Kurai took on 4 other members. Riku got knocked down. so Kurai dived in to defend her friends.

*STAB*

You could see drops of blood from Kurai.

"K... Kurai?" The 2 muttered.

She rose her head.

"It's a damn good thing I wear some armor."

With that, she split the burly man's keyblade into 2. The other members backed away.

"If you DON'T feel like DYING TODAY, I SUGGEST YOU GIT!"

They fled into another car while others that happened to be sitting there just had their jaws dropped, as did Sora. This was the first time he had witnessed first hand what could have been murder.

"Riku... do you mind going into my pouch and wrap up my arm?"

"After you saved our asses, of course."

The train stopped.

"Guess that's our stop. And pretty good timing too."

* * *

The 3 exited the train and where in quite the parlor... or what used to be.

During Twilight Town's prime (or the entirety of The Land That Shouldn't Be, really), it looked like it would have been Grand Central. Now it looked that most of it was barren... but in pretty good condition.

"Sora, I'd say be in the middle, but just help me carry Kurai."

"C'mon Riku. It was but a scratch."

"It might be, but who denies someone carrying them to a relatively close destination? I mean, you were also just stabbed, so..."

"You make a convincing argument. Alright.. it's probably best you guys assist me. But we're gonna need to take the long way."

Sora and Riku moaned.

"Quit complaining. It's safer."

And with that, they exited the building.

"Wwwoooaaahhh..."

"Sora, this is the Clock Tower. Cool things happen here... That's all I'll say."

Sora and Riku were trudging with Kurai, then Sora noticed a shortcut that went underground.

"It's shorter, but you need to be a bit prepared."

"Ugh.. fine."

So they traveled to an area called Station Heights. From there, they took a shortcut and winded up in the Back Alley.

"Is it close?"

"Yeah. Good because after seeing a person nearly die and carrying Kurai-"

"Oh he did- *mumph*"

Riku muffled Kurai's mouth.

"Oh look we're here."

* * *

In front of them was a gated area. Riku threw Kurai on Sora's back and unlocked the gate.

"A little gentler next time?"

They entered and Riku closed the gate.

There was a small path that led to a building. Riku had just pushed the curtain aside, making ambulance noises.

"Hey hey guys!"

Sora walked in and collapsed and Kurai stumbled up.

"I.. *huff* wouldn't be so... *huff* worn out if it weren't for that almost murder... Oh.. If only we took that *huff* shortcut..."

He looked up and saw 3 people: a kid with pushed back but spiky blonde hair and camouflage capris and wings slightly larger wings than Kurai, a heavy-set kid with black hair with wings a bit smaller than Kurai's, and a girl with an orange tank top and brown hair bigger than Hayner's.

"Okay, Kurai only mentioned one of you... Uh... Ocelot?"

"No, it's Olette. But nice try. You must be hungry after that ride here, hm?"

"I guess.."

Olette had everyone gather around while she brought out some candy.

"Special occasions call for special food, no?"

The spiky hair kid called Sora out.

"So, who are you?"

"Sora. Just came here yesterday. And you?"

"The name's Hayner. You already know Olette. And the other kid is Pence. So, Kurai, Riku. What brings you to our humble abode?"

"Nothing, other than showing off the new kid."

"Cool, cool."

Pence, feeling he should let Sora knows he exists, decided to talk.

"Sora, if you ever have any tech questions, you come to me."

"Hey, um, Pence. Now isn't the best time to mention our little rivalry."

"Alright, fine. So Kurai, how DID you get that mark?"

"A scuffle on the train."

"So nothing new."

They all finished eating awhile ago, but Olette just cleaned up for them to break the silence.

"Oh! Olette! Sora had a question about clothing for you."

"What is it, Sora?"

"Uh.. I was wondering if... maybe you had extra clothes for a newbie like me... but now I feel kinda guilty for asking..."

"Oh, no no! I'll have some stuff for you tomorrow!"

"Wow!... Thanks!"

After awhile of showing the place to Sora, Kurai decided to stop for the day and go back home to recover.

"We gotta get going guys.. I still gotta recover.. and more importantly teach Sora: 'the wings and the keys'."

"Wait a sec, we all went through Health."

"No. Not that... Ah screw it, I'll just do it here."


	7. Chapter 7

It got quiet again, with Pence wheeling out a whiteboard for Kurai to make crappy illustrations on.

"Okay Sora. You've only been here for 2 days, so you haven't really had the 'wings and the keys' thing happen yet.

So basically, it goes like this:

After about a week, you have a 'special day' that us locals call: 'The Birthening'.

This is where all of the body changes start to occur.

Growing your wings is like childbirth... but through your back... hence why it is called 'The Birthening'. Now, you're a guy, so you don't get childbirth, and neither do I, but it's about as painful as that. This whole process takes up about half a day... so THAT'S gonna be fun to look forward to. After you grow your wings, which will be pretty small, it gets really bloody.. again, like childbirth.

Then there's the second part of the day: 'The Awakening'.

Remember those key swords? Yeah, well, those are called 'Keyblades'. A few hours after 'The Birthening', you start to painfully fall asleep. Your body will need to be tended by us, as you will be sweating like there's no tomorrow, and you'll need to be kept hydrated. While you're asleep, you have a sort-of 'in-body' experience. You are taken to an area where you will be questioned by some force, then you will receive a keyblade. You will wake up to find your keyblade next to you.

Note, it will take a bit to use it, so you're not leaving the building until I teach you the basics. Also, you'll want to be really careful with your keyblade. It breaks, you die and morph into a pretty horrid creature.

Speaking of the creatures, if you succumb to disease you become what North-side, Dark City, calls a 'Nobody' or South-side, Twilight Town, calls 'Heartless'. Both are right as you are essentially a shell of your former self. There is no difference, by the way. You become ink black, yellow glowing eyed, and feral. Think of it as an 'Anti form'.

Actually, it's probably better to just get killed than suffer this fate. Which is part of the reason you see a lot of dead bodies.

On average, if you have a healthy body, you live about 10 years... maybe more.

There is no cure, although there is apparently a way to halt it... It's a bit of a paradox, I know.

So what happens is over time your wings grow. After a certain point.. about a year or 2 before you die, your wings start to become black. They still grow, but it's much more painful. Then about a few months before you die, you grow a sort-of suit that you cannot remove. It looks like muscle tissue and can be a variety of colors. You get a dark colored belt with a cloth around your waist, opening at the front. Then, on your chest, there is an insignia.

You start receiving the 'pseudo-suit' after an event similar to 'The Birthening'. This event is called: 'The Beginning of the End'.

Pretty much the same as the 'in-body experience', you go back there and receive a sentence on how long you have left to live. You wake up with an insignia on your chest, the suit starting to grow somewhere, and numbers on your hands, indicating how long you have. The insignia has 13 stages. Each stage, it opens of and you have the suit start to grow in another area. By the 10th stage, the suit should cover all but your head and neck. The 11th, you will probably be bedridden. The 12th, the neck will be covered and you will have a silver thing cover your chin. The last stage, a helmet completely covers you and you become feral, but active again. Once your keyblade breaks, which it usually does pretty early, the keyblade is very fragile at this point; you change out of that form and into a Heartless or Nobody... whatever sticks in your head better.

By the way, at this stage, your body becomes very hard, so killing yourself will be quite hard. Also, the more the insignia opens, the faster and more painful the process gets."

* * *

They all looked at Kurai, especially Sora, scared of what's to come. But at least the drawings were comical enough to brighten the spirits.

"Scary, right?

Just don't think to much about it, that's how you get past it.

Anyways, time to talk about the city.

So in that huge castle, are what is essentially our government. They don't do much, but you are to never ever ever go near or into that place. Forget death, they will do horrible experiments on you.

They can be identified by their black cloaks. Sometimes they have different designs based on their attributes. But this is only if they fight... just don't go near them.

I've heard rumors of 2 of them, almost lost. Please do not approach them... I don't want you to die."

* * *

Sora got up nodded at Kurai and asked if they could go.

"Sure... I'm sure this is all a lot to bear..."

Just before they left, Hayner, Pence, and Olette walked up to them.

"I hope you get back safe. And please, come by tomorrow to pick up your clothes." Olette reminded Sora.

"When you come back, tell me all about your experience here." Hayner said, lovingly slapping him on the back.

"It'll sink in soon and you won't even think about it." Pence said, trying to cheer Sora up.

Sora, Riku, and Kurai left, taking the train back with, thankfully, no problems.

When they got back, they just threw some ramen together and Sora jumped into bed.

"I know it's a lot, but try not to let overshadow your stay here."

Riku closed the door and let Sora sleep.


End file.
